Soulmates
by SearScare
Summary: Don't worry it's not as sappy as the title: Percy doesn't believe in soul-mates but what happens when Katie is convinced she's found Annabeth's? Based on a FRIENDS episode.


**A/N: I was watching a FRIENDS episode **(SO8E16- The One Where Joey Tells Rachel)** and in it Phoebe finds Monica's 'soul mate.' It sort of inspired me to write this- which is completely based off the dialogue that happens in the episode.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or FRIENDS**

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><p><strong>Percy<strong>

_It all started when Grover and I were sitting in the Amphitheatre waiting for the campfire to be lit. I'd just gotten back to Camp Half-blood for Christmas break and I'd been filling him in on all that happened in school during the last three months. He had news too—news which wasn't too pleasant but since it was the season to be merry we'd decided to keep all conversation topics cheerfully inclined._

_As he and I were discussing the finer points of Kobe Bryant's average, Katie Gardner, Head Counselor of Demeter joined us to ask Grover a few questions. Since Grover was Lord Of the Wild and Katie was Demeter's daughter, they got on like a tree in sunshine. Unfortunately though, the conversation shifted from how to best grow an Orchid to Katie's new crush…_

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><p>'So what's this I hear about a new Apollo guy you've been going around with?' Grover asked slyly and I watched in amazement as a wicked grin appeared on Katie's face. She fiddled with the knife strapped to her belt, no doubt looking to stall and shrugged.<p>

'I don't know what you're talking about.' She said primly though the grin on her face kind of belied her tone.

Grover gave his weird snort (which sounded like a wet goat coughing) and adopted an air of importance. 'I know all, I see all. C'mon, who is he?' Katie rolled her eyes and then waved her hand in the direction of a bunch of demigod's hanging out at the far side of the campfire.

I knew exactly three people out of them—Will, Pollux and a girl who I'd met only earlier, in the morning, Nyssa. The rest were all new to me, something I was supremely glad for; it meant that the gods had kept the promise they'd made.

'See the guy sitting next to James?' Katie asked and Grover nodded. I had no idea who James was so I interrupted her before she could continue. 'Wait, which one is James, again?' Katie adopted a long suffering air and waved in their direction again. 'You know Nyssa, right?'

'Yes.' I answered, not untruthfully since I _had _met her in the morning when I'd gone to visit Jake Mason.

'Okay, so the guy on her left is James-'

'He's a son of Ares.' Grover added bleatingly. 'He nearly skewered me 'cause I was running after Juniper in the woods and spoilt his chance at a monster. He is _not _nice.'

Katie and I burst into laughter while Grover huffed at us, clearly annoyed by our reactions. I could totally imagine Grover making a fool of himself; especially when Juniper was involved.

'Anyway..' Katie continued after Grover had muttered threats about turning us into flowers to shut us up, '… the guy sitting diagonally in front of James is Damon. He's the Son of Apollo.'

Unfortunately for me someone jumped in front of the guy Katie was talking about thereby blocking my sight of him before I caught a good look. Grover, however caught sight of him because he gave an appreciative bleat, 'Hmm. Not bad Katie, not bad _at all._'

'Oh shut up, Prince of Pansies.' Katie scowled and looked away, her expression fairly resigned. While Grover rocked under the insult, I grinned and bumped her shoulder. 'What's up with you?'

She sighed and looked down, her hand fiddling with her dagger again. 'Okay, listen, let me ask you; do you believe in soul-mates?' She asked finally, surprising even Grover into shutting up about his duties as Lord of The Wild. Grover and I blinked at each other, a little blind-sided but he recovered first and suddenly grinned widely, leaning past me to answer Katie's question.

'Oh, yes I do. I do. I believe there is one perfect person out there for _everyone. _And you know how you find them?' He looked enquiringly from Katie to me and I dutifully shook my head, hoping to look totally unfazed by the abrupt turn in the conversation.

'Well…' Continued Grover, '… you stop looking for them!' He raised his eyebrows at both of us and I nodded my head to show that it wasn't the most illogical thing I'd ever heard… even if it was.

'And that is why I've stopped looking for Artemis!' He said excitedly and I struggled not to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. Grover shrugged his shoulders at my expression and leaned back, stretching his hooves, 'She'll find me.'

I stared at him while he smiled dreamily up at the sky.

'Uh huh.. and erm, you?' Katie asked turning to me, her expression telling me that she totally thought Grover was a little soft in the head. At that moment, I couldn't help but agree.

I shrugged my shoulders at the question and said the first thing that popped into my head. 'No… I mean I believe that certain people are more suited for each other and I believe in falling in love but…' I trailed off, thinking about Annabeth and then hurried on when Katie clicked her tongue impatiently, 'But, soul-mates… no, I don't think they exist.'

I finished, suddenly a little self-conscious of what I said. Katie however beamed at me. 'Okay, okay, that's good!' I raised my eyebrow at her, wondering why she looked so happy all of a sudden and asked, 'Why?'

'Well…' Katie grinned at Grover who'd deigned to look back at us mere mortals, 'You won't believe this but I think Damon is Annabeth's!' Grover gasped and leaned forward excitedly while I shook my head, wondering if I'd heard correctly. Just to be sure, I glanced at both Katie and Grover. 'Er.. what?'

'Yeah!' Katie said, 'I spent the day with Damon and I swear to the gods, he's her other half!' Grover's eyes widened but I shook my head immediately, sure that Katie was just pulling my leg.

'C'mon, don't be crazy.' I said and turned to Grover, a little knot of uncertainty forming in my chest, 'You don't think that there's somebody out there better suited for Annabeth than _me,_ do you?'

Grover just looked at me pityingly, making the knot in my chest tighten. Then he pushed me back so he could talk to Katie, completely ignoring my outraged expression, 'Really, what's he _like?_

Katie thought for a moment and then began counting off on her fingers, 'Well, he's tall.'

'Uh, huh.' Grover said, bobbing his head in agreement.

'And he has brown hair..' Katie continued.

'Of course, of course.' Grover nodded as though "brown hair" was a given for Annabeth's soul mate.

Annoyed by their complete lack of tact, I pushed myself between them. 'Oh a tall guy with hair a shade lighter than mine! Oh, unknowable universe!' I said sarcastically but the only response I got to my brilliant wit was being shoved back by Grover so that he could listen to Katie.

'He likes buildings!' The daughter of Demeter said, as though she was pulling out her trump card—which sadly enough she was. I completely phased out when Annabeth started about architecture.

'Oh, sure! Is he older?' Grover asked and I slumped back, feeling like a useless can of flat soda.

'Obviously.' Katie rolled her eyes clearly stating that that was again a given for Annabeth's soul mate. 'And…' She continued, a wide smile on her face, 'He's British!'

'Oh my god! I was just going to ask!' Grover bleated and bumped fists with Katie while I watched in complete astonishment. I mean, what the hell was going _on? _

'Right?' They grinned at each other as Katie ticked off one more finger, 'And, he's so centered and mature and confident…' She trailed off, naming all of the qualities I completely lacked.

'Aw..' Grover whinnied, 'It's so _sad _that they never had a chance to _meet!_'

Deciding that they were really pushing the boundaries of acceptable conversation I spoke up, coating my words with as much sarcasm as I could. 'Luckily the guy she settled for can't _hear _what you're talking about!'

That finally got through to them because they both flashed me identical expressions of guilt. Katie laid a hand on my shoulder in (what I supposed was) friendly support, 'Oh, I'm so sorry Perce.' She said sincerely and I felt a little better, 'You know maybe I'm wrong..!' She continued and I felt a glimmer of relief as the knot loosened.

'But I'll hang out with him tomorrow and we'll know a little more!' She beamed and nodded as though that was exactly what I needed to hear. Deciding that I should let it slide for the sake of my sanity, I focused on the other issue which was bothering me.

'You believe the guy is destined for somebody else and you're _still _going to hit on him?'

Katie shrugged and stood up, looking at me with the same expression my Math teacher did when I didn't get something as basic as 2+2=4. 'Well he may not be my _soul mate _but a girl's got to eat, right?'

And with that she hopped off with all the innocence of a bunny leaving me feeling incredibly confused.

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><p><em>The next day, when everyone was hanging around near the dining pavilion waiting for the lunch horn to blow, I managed to get Annabeth alone so that I could talk to her privately.<em>

_The conversation with Katie and Grover had creeped me out a little and I—fine, I'll admit it, I just wanted a little reassurance from her that she wasn't going to go running off with some dude who might be her soul mate. We'd spent an amazing morning together, getting back into Camp routine and I'd hoped that that was going to be indicative of the fact that despite not being her soul mate, I was still good enough to date her._

_However the Fates clearly had other plans because Katie barged into us, dragging along another guy who was about my height and had a slightly confused expression on his face, in her wake…_

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><p>'Oh, hey guys, didn't see you there…' Katie said breathlessly as she practically skidded to a stop next to us. She blew her hair out of her face and beamed at us, as she made the introductions.<p>

'Annabeth, Percy, this is… Damon.' She grinned at Annabeth and shot me a pointed expression as I stared at her murderously, realization dawning too late. _Damon _meanwhile flashed a smile of even teeth at Annabeth and shook her hand, 'Hey. Nice to meet you.'

'And you.' Annabeth nodded, smiling in return. Damon turned to me but my expression must have still held the residual glare for Katie because he backed up a little and didn't smile or shake my hand.

'Uh, hey. I'm Damon.'

'Percy.' I said stiffly and shot Katie a "what-the-hell-are-you-doing?" look which she pointedly ignored. Annabeth, sensing the impending awkwardness looked at Damon interestedly and asked, 'So, what have you guys been doing?'

Damon shrugged nonchalantly and answered in a perfect British accent which I decided immediately to be fake. 'Well, Katie just showed me the library at the Big House and I've got to say it was a _terrible _experience…' He leaned forward, his expression suddenly animated, 'I mean, what is with all the Encyclopedias in the place?'

'I _know, _what is this place, Prep School?' Annabeth exclaimed in response and I rolled my eyes, feeling the knot in my chest suddenly morph into a solid golf ball. Damon looked at her flabbergasted, 'That's _exactly_ what I said!' He turned to Katie, amazement all over his face, 'Katie isn't that strange?'

'Not really.' Katie beamed back and I figured it was time to put my foot down and show her whose boss. 'What's- what's wrong with Encyclopedias?' I asked, trying to make my tone as hostile as possible.

Annabeth and Damon raised their eyebrows at me in unison.

'…in a library I mean-' I coughed, but they were still staring so I became defensive immediately. 'Isn't a library is meant for books? And aren't Encyclopedias books?' I tried to show them my layman logic but they didn't look too impressed. 'No? Not at all?' I pressed and saw Katie smirking at me from the corner of my eye.

'So, Damon…' Annabeth said, ignoring my attempts to continue the library conversation by starting a completely new one, '… what are your favorite books?'

'Oh, you know the usual…' He answered self deprecatingly, '… "_The Art of War"_ by Sun Tzu, "_War and Peace"_ by Leo Tolstoy…' He went on to name a host of other books which I'd never heard of in my life until finally, '…oh but my absolute favorite would be "_Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture"_ by Robert Venturi. I swear the guy is a genius!'

'No kidding!' Annabeth exclaimed, her grey eyes shining with a fervor I knew she reserved only for her geeky interests- like architecture. 'That's my favorite too! I've read it like a _million _times.'

'So have I!' Damon said, his 100 watt smile blinding me as he leaned forward. 'Hey, I'd love to discuss it with you… maybe at lunch?' He amended as the conch finally blew and the throng of people all around us moved en masse to their respective tables.

'That'd be great. You're Apollo right? Our tables are right next to each other! C'mon!' Annabeth grinned and gestured him to follow as she cut through the crowd effortlessly, leaving me standing completely nonplussed. I rounded on Katie as soon as Damon was out of ear-shot and grabbed her by the arm, preventing her from edging away.

'_What _are you _doing?'_ I hissed at her, ignoring the surprised expressions of the people moving past us. She tried to wriggle out of my grip but I didn't loosen my fingers so she sighed and eventually answered. 'Nothing! I swear to the gods!'

I raised a single threatening eyebrow forcing her to alter the statement.

'Fine.' She conceded, 'I just wanted to see if they'd get along, besides…' She continued hurriedly as my glare deepened, 'you don't believe in soul mates so…' She shrugged as though _that _made everything better.

'I _believe_…' I said through gritted teeth, 'in tall, handsome strangers who _hit on my girlfriend!' _ She rolled her eyes, completely unfazed by my threatening tone.

'They're just talking and just because _I_ believe their soul mates doesn't mean _anything's _going to happen.' She reasoned and pulled her arm out of my grasp before I knew what she was doing.

Through the gap in the crowd I suddenly saw Annabeth and Damon laughing hysterically over something as they clinked their glasses of juice. Great, they even liked the same beverage.

'Don't worry…' Katie said from her position next to my shoulder. She raised a hand to shade her eyes as she took in the sight of my girlfriend with someone else. '…We'll find you someone else.' She waved her hand dismissively and disappeared into the crowd before I could catch hold of her and throw her into the canoe lake.

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><p><em>After lunch, I'd hoped to catch hold of Annabeth and show this tiny Hippocampi which had just been born but since Annabeth and Damon had hit it off so well, she invited him and Katie along for a walk in the woods—claiming that trees made excellent examples of natural building structures.<em>

_By then of course, I'd been pretty annoyed, having seethed my way through lunch as Damon inched closer and closer to Annabeth till he nearly fell of his bench once. Katie of course, had been of no help whatsoever and as we walked through the undergrowth, I'd finally come to the end of my tether…_

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><p>'So, I've been hoping to break out of the tediousness of paper assignments by trying to make a model of the Taj Mahal from mud.' He said as he very considerately held back a branch for my girlfriend to walk past.<p>

'_Mud_ you say…' I called out to him as I followed them through the canopy of leaves, Katie trailing disinterestedly behind me. 'That's uh… some pretty dirty work huh, Damon?'

My tone was just the right amount of sarcasm and I noticed Annabeth raising a puzzled eyebrow as she glanced back at me. The golf ball in my chest tightened till it felt like I had a bullet stuck in my lung, making it difficult to breathe.

'Excuse me?' Damon said, raising his own eyebrow as though he was determined to copy all my girlfriend's moves.

'Mud.' I said emphatically, 'its dirty isn't it? I mean…' I continued, warming to the topic as I came to a stop beside him so I could look him right in the eye, 'you must be a dirty a lot of the time too!'

I gave him my best "beat-that-sucker" look and moved past him, coming to a stop beside Annabeth- who was frowning at me. Damon shrugged as though it was a perfectly reasonable question and made his way over to us. 'No, not really. But when it comes to an assignment, I'm willing to do _anything _to get top grade!'

'Hey, me too!' Annebeth grinned and high-fived him. 'Yeah, Percy doesn't get that compulsion to beat everyone else.' She continued, giving me an affectionate smile which I barely registered because I was glaring at Damon.

'Really? And you're dating him?' Damon chuckled and Annabeth laughed as well, both of them too busy moving forward in their quest to find their "tree with an excellent structure" to notice the less than amused expression on my face.

'Hey, you know what I'd wish would happen?' Annabeth asked rhetorically as she and Damon clambered over a rock and dropped down to the clearing below. I followed them and managed to slip on the rock, skinning my knee in the process.

'No, tell me.' Damon grinned at Annabeth and gave her a hand as they jumped over a mossy ditch. I rolled my eyes at his smooth chivalry; Annabeth would never fall for such an obvious move.

'One day, I want to be the only one prepared for a surprise pop-quiz so that when it happens, I sail through it and beat everyone else hollow!' Annabeth answered, a wicked grin dawning on her face. Damon laughed delightedly and came to a stop beside her as I finally jumped off the rock without breaking my ankle.

'You know what I want?' Damon said, moving far too close to my girlfriend for my comfort. I hopped over the ditch and came to a stop beside them trying to discreetly get rid of the blood stain on my knee.

'What?' Annabeth asked, turning away to hike up a steep incline. Damon followed her immediately but I stayed to finish cleaning myself. Katie eventually caught up with me, her hands completely filthy. I decided not to ask and together we climbed the hillock just in time to hear Damon's answer.

'I'd want to build a house which is so beautiful that you'd come and live in it.' He winked at Annabeth and I gagged. Watching the creep flirt with my girlfriend was too much to take in silently and before I could stop myself, my mouth opened.

'What, is it made of mud?'

They both turned to me, wearing identical masks of confusion.

'Well…' Damon said slowly, as though he was talking to a two-year old, 'It will be made from bricks, so yeah, it _is _a kind of mud.' He laughed and raised his hand for a high-five which Annabeth gave him, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

'Oh, c'mon!' I whirled around disgusted and walked over to Katie. She was kneeling in the dirt beside a huge flower and waving her hand over it in a weird hypnotic way.

'Are you _listening _to this?' I asked her angrily as I came to a stop beside her. She looked at me with an expression of supreme indifference. 'I'm so sorry.'

I rolled my eyes and prevented her from going back to her plant by crouching down beside her.

'Well, what can we do?'

'I don't know…' She answered, her eyes fixed on the flower as it responded to the movements of her hand, '… they want to live in a house of mud. I don't know how you fight that.'

And as a fitting example to her last statement, I heard Damon and Annabeth emit similar sounds of excitement at having found their stupid tree.

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><p><em>After the walk through the woods—which basically continued with Annabeth and Damon moving excitedly from one tree to another, I'd had a host of activities, thankfully not with either the Apollo or Athena cabin. Still, I'd been so distracted that I managed to lose against Clarisse, get disqualified for the canoe race (because I lost my temper and nearly skewered Sherman with my sword) and finally, fall off the climbing wall for the first time in five years, burning my shirt in the process.<em>

_It was about four thirty in the evening when I made it back to my cabin, just as the sun was setting over Long Island Sound. Annoyed by the mess in my cabin, I changed my clothes—since my T-shirt had kind of disintegrated and walked out on to the beach, wading into the water to calm myself…_

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><p>I have to admit that water just has a way of lifting my mood. It was warm and clear and as I walked through, I felt my toes sink into the sand with a pleasant squelchiness. A few fish swam in between my legs going, 'Lord, lord! Play with us, play with us!' but aside from that it was wonderfully quiet. The breeze ruffled my hair, invigorating me. I'd just relaxed and closed my eyes… when I sensed footsteps on the beach.<p>

'How's the water?' Annabeth asked and I turned around to see her standing at the edge of her surf, her blonde hair glinting in the dying rays of the sun. My earlier frustration came back with full force and I found myself snarling in answer.

'Oh it's fine… fine! Not _perfect!_' I paused, waiting for the sarcasm to register with her and then continued, 'Not perfect, but _good enough_!'

She blinked at my words and I turned away from her and looked out into my father's realm.

The water stirred behind me and I sighed when I sensed her following me in. She appeared at my side and looked out to the horizon as well. For a moment, neither of us said anything and we simply watched the sun disappear over the edge. I found myself wondering about Apollo and where he parked his sun-chariot for the night.

'So… what's going on?'

Annabeth asked quietly as the sky darkened immediately. The breeze turned colder and I felt goose-pimples appearing on my arm. Clearly Mr. D had become a little lazy with the weather control.

'Percy?'

'It's nothing.'

I bit back and immediately regretted my tone. That would definitely tell her something was up.

'Really?' She stretched out the word and I rolled my eyes at her carefully measured tone. I glanced at her quickly and found her gazing at me, a quiet determination in her eyes. There was no way she was going to let this go—and I really didn't want to tell her.

She'd laugh at me, I knew that for sure. And really, I couldn't even blame her. I mean _who _gets jealous about some random guy who was apparently your girlfriend's soul-mate; an opinion only shared by two of your friends.

Honestly speaking, I wasn't even the jealous type—no really I wasn't. Luke was a different case all together. It just galled me that Damon, a stupid son of Apollo had so much in common with Annabeth. It made so much sense for _her _to date _him; _they could talk about Books and Buildings and Class Tests and enjoy themselves thoroughly.

Me? I talked about Basketball and Food and Ways Of Blowing Up Schools. Why had she chosen me in the first place?

I blinked and realized she was still waiting for me to answer. That was another thing I didn't possess: patience. I ran my hands through my hair and chose my words carefully.

'Katie thinks that you and Damon are soul-mates… and I don't believe in that kind of stuff-' I paused and tried my best not to think of all the stuff that had happened in the afternoon, '- but then you and Damon _totally _got along…'

I took a deep breath and fixed my eyes on the water around me, '… so look, I won't stand in your way if you want to run off with Damon and live in a house of mud!'

I let out a huff of air and rolled my shoulders trying to provide a release for my pent up frustration. After determining that several seconds had passed and Annabeth _still _hadn't said anything, I glanced at her, suddenly afraid that she was going to take me at my word and go off in search of Damon.

Instead, she was staring at me, a mix of confusion and amusement on her face.

Great, she was going to laugh at me. I made to turn away but she caught my arm and prevented me from doing so. Unwillingly, I found myself looking into her eyes—even though I could barely see thanks to the increasing darkness.

'Percy… you don't believe in soul-mates?' She asked, her tone unreadable. I'd gotten so sick of the word over the past two days that I snapped back, 'No but I'm sure _Encyclopedias _does!'

She grinned at me, absolutely unfazed by my irritability and looked away for a moment, trying to fight the smile off. I waited sullenly till she turned back, a hint of… tenderness on her face.

'Well.. I don't believe in soul-mates either.'

The golf-ball inside my chest suddenly didn't feel like a golf ball anymore.

'You don't?' I asked, completely thrown.

She smiled again though I could tell it wasn't aimed at my stupidity.

'Nope… I don't think that you and I were _destined_ to end up together. ' She paused, gauging my reaction before continuing, 'I think that we fell in love and we work hard at our relationship.' She waited a beat and then grinned again, 'Some days we work _really _hard.'

Slowly, I felt a smile beginning to form on my face as well and the knot of jealousy and resentment pretty much dissolved away. 'So…' I said, moving closer to her so that I could rest a hand on her hip, '… you _don't _want to go live with Damon in a mud house?'

She laughed softly and looped her arms around my neck. 'No.. I've had second thoughts about _that_, Seaweed Brain. D'you realize how _hard _that would be to clean?' I began laughing and she pulled me into a hug. I felt a familiar tug of happiness in my stomach.

'I love you.' I said, leaning back so I could look at her properly. As I said the words, I suddenly realized I'd never said them before—a fact she didn't miss either because her gray eyes widened just a little. For a moment we looked at each other and then she smirked at me, 'I know.'

I rolled my eyes at her typical smart-ass answer and kissed her.

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><p><em>And I have to say, it felt absolutely great that Damon, "whatever-his-last-name-was" would just have to settle for someone other than my girlfriend.<em>

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><p><strong>The End.<strong>


End file.
